Need help with my first SFF build

[Jack0f5pades]

Budget (including currency): Hoping to spend less than $600 on the parts that I'm still missing

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mobile workstation, portable VR setup

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): This is the list of parts I have laying around from my old build that I'd like to repurpose for this new travel-centric build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3Z2Kqm 

 

 

The only parts I'm missing (and need help with deciding on) for this build are an ITX motherboard, a small-ish case, and a decent small power supply, hopefully all for less than $600.

 

My first instinct was to reach for the NZXT H1, since it seems pretty idiot proof and comes with two out of the three things I'm missing, but having an AIO would be worrying since I'm gonna be moving it around a lot, and it's pretty expensive so not as much value to be had as other options.

 

Another option was recommended by someone on discord yesterday, the ssupd mesh case. The only issues here is that I'd have to supply my own power supply, fans, CPU cooler, and I'd have to decide whether to spend extra on the version that comes with the PCIE gen 4 riser since all the good ITX boards seem to be B550, and my CPU + GPU support it.

 

So, what I'm asking for help with is this:

 

1. If you believe I should get the NZXT H1, all I need to know is what motherboard you'd recommend : )

2. If you think I should get the ssupd case, I'd need to know what motherboard and power supply you'd recommend. I'd also like to know if there's any difference between the version that's $99 on newegg and the one that's $130 on their website?

3. If you think an alternative like the cooler master NR200 would fare me better, then lemme know and I'll have to take a look

 

Any other advice related to this would also be appreciated! I've only ever build in mid or full towers before so I'm not sure how this small build is gonna fare. I'm gonna be going to micro center tomorrow to pick up a motherboard, so that's the main thing I'm concerned with at the moment. Thanks!

 

Edit: I've gotta get up early to drive across the state to micro center, so I'll be looking over and responding to any replies once I wake up. 

[Bombastinator]

The case is the rugged one.  That more or less defines all the other parts.  I was assuming a stock cooler till I saw 3600 not 3600x. I don’t know if that comes with a stock fan or not. Mobile often means water because it means most of the weight of the cooler isn’t on the motherboard. Stock cooler for a 3600x doesn’t weigh all that much though. 

[Jack0f5pades]

5 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

The case is the rugged one.  That more or less defines all the other parts.  I was assuming a stock cooler till I saw 3600 not 3600x. I don’t know if that comes with a stock fan or not. Mobile often means water because it means most of the weight of the cooler isn’t on the motherboard. Stock cooler for a 3600x doesn’t weigh all that much though. 

The 3600 does come with a wraith stealth cooler, I was just planning on using it.

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Jack0f5pades said:

The 3600 does come with a wraith stealth cooler, I was just planning on using it.

Ok.  So that’s covered.  It won’t work great, but it will work.  The inability of ryzen to overclock usefully is standing AMD stock coolers in good stead.  I suspect personally eventually no chips will overclock in any meaningful way and 3rd party coolers will die.

AIOs are said to be actually preferred over large air coolers because the heavy bit isn’t attached to the motherboard.  There was some falderal about structural issues with the H1 that resulted in fire though.  Iirc it’s been fixed, but there is a period in there where they were making unsafe machines.  You likely do not want to own a machine from that period. My memory was there wasn’t a voluntary recall. Or any other kind.  Video card seems to be 280mm long then and would likely be the biggest thing in the case. 5700s seem to actually need less PSU than newer AMD cards of equivalent speed so finding an SFX power supply (as opposed to SFX-L) shouldn’t be an issue. How bout this: even get some wifi, another nvme slot for a storage drive, and enough VRM you could upgrade the processor and cooler later if you wanted to.  Well under your max, and the case is pretty small.  I was quite surprised it would be that cheap.  Usually really small cases cost more rather than less.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Storage: Team MP34 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200 Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($79.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ EVGA) 
Total: $369.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-28 08:56 EDT-0400

 

only complication is I can’t tell what if any fans it comes with. Needs at least two fans.  Probably 4 two of which might need to be slim.  There’s budget for it though. If you need a handle screw on ones can be gotten from the hardware store for cheap and the top is full of holes to fit it in.  Flat head machine screws so they won’t clip the fans. Or just use a Velcro tote strap I project $10-20 or so.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Bombastinator